


we were in screaming color

by 152glasslippers



Series: are we out of the woods [2]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: (who doesn't), Canon Divergent, Daisy has some thoughts and feelings about it, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Light Angst, Post-Season/Series 05 Finale, Pre-Relationship, Reunion Fic, Robbie finally tells Daisy about his latest deal with the Rider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2019-05-19 02:16:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,074
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14864738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/152glasslippers/pseuds/152glasslippers
Summary: “There was another deal.”“What?” She sounded confused.“I made another deal.”Post-season 5 AU/Canon Divergent. Robbie rejoins the team at the Lighthouse in the days following their final showdown with Talbot. In a quiet moment with Daisy, the terms of his new deal with the Rider come to light.





	we were in screaming color

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: Season 5 finale? I don’t know her. Mostly because I started writing before the finale aired.  
> Part 2 of 2. Picks up immediately after part 1.

Daisy’s hands were just like her, soft but strong; the two sides of her: vulnerable and powerful.

She kept her hands on his face, her eyes intent on his, picking up all the things Robbie was sure he didn’t even know he was giving away. Just like the night they’d met and the day of the blackout, only now he knew she was trained to spot them.

One thumb stroked idly across his cheek, still observing him.

“You look exhausted.”

The corners of his mouth twitched under her hands. He raised an eyebrow at her.

“You do, too.”

She offered him a smirk of her own. “We’re not so different, you and me.”

A part of him glowed at her smile, at the words he’d meant so differently then, remembered and repeated back to him, but it wasn’t enough to distract him from the pain that flashed across her eyes before she said it.

“When was the last time you slept?”

Her hands slipped to his shoulders, then dropped the rest of the way into her lap. She was quiet, her eyes on her knees.

“Haven’t been,” she said after a second. She looked up at him, her eyes meeting his then shifting away again. She fidgeted. “Not since…” Her voice trailed off. He watched her fingers dig into her thighs and relax again as she took a deep breath. She turned her attention to him, the sadness back in her eyes. “What about you? You ever get to sleep when you’re…wherever you go?

The idea was so absurd, it startled a smile out of him, a silent laugh.

“Not so much, no.”

They watched each other for a moment, and then she said, her voice even, “Maybe we should sleep, then.”

He didn’t want to think too hard about what it meant that she asked, what it meant that he wanted to, or what it might mean if they did.

So he didn’t. He just said, “Yeah. Yeah, okay.”

Daisy smiled back at him, a different kind of smile than before. Her shy one, the one Robbie had only ever seen once.

He picked his gloves up off the bed and stood up, moving toward the door, dropping them on the table in front of the couch, unzipping his jacket as he went. It was strange, undressing in the same room but not together, just to sleep. He turned around to see Daisy finish unzipping her boots and slide backward on the bed, all the way to the other side, making space for him.

He would have bet the keys to the Charger that his smile matched hers.

He closed the door, cutting off the light from the hallway. He let his eyes adjust to the darkness, kicking off his shoes next to the couch, his jacket landing on the table next to his gloves. Daisy was lying on her back, one arm across her stomach, the other straight at her side, and he followed her lead, laying down next to her and mirroring her position, their hands almost touching between them.

He was too aware of her body. Too aware of his own body, next to hers.

“Probably should have showered before I agreed to this.”

Daisy snorted, laughing. “You don’t smell, I promise.”

It got quiet again. The backs of her fingers brushed his.

“Don’t think I would care if you did,” she whispered.

He turned his head to look at her. He could just make out her profile, her face pointed toward the ceiling. He couldn’t tell if her eyes were open, but he heard her take a deep breath, felt the mattress shift as she sank further into it.

He turned his attention back to the ceiling, closed his eyes, tried to relax. Told himself he was back on Earth, back with Shield, with Daisy. That he could.

The last hour played in his head—the weight on his body as he passed through the portal, the lightness as it closed behind him. The team’s stunned faces, and then Daisy’s hands on him, her body around his, his arms around her, neither of them able to let go, like the physical was the only way to assure themselves they were both real. Her screams, her tears, her questions, her confessions, running through his mind until all he heard was her voice, on a loop: _You tell me. I’ve got you, too._

His eyes flew open.

“Daisy.”

Her breathing wasn’t steady enough for her to be asleep yet. She answered almost immediately, a small “Hmm?” that still managed to sound faraway, peaceful.

And he was about to destroy that peace.

“There was another deal.”

“What?” She sounded confused.

“I made another deal.” He kept his voice tight, controlled.

“ _What?!_ ” Now she sounded outraged.

He heard rustling and then a light clicked on above them, soft, yellow. Daisy was sitting at the foot of the bed, staring at him.

“What are you talking about?”

It hurt to look at her.

Robbie sat up, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. Stood up, walked a few paces. It felt wrong to put space between them, to walk away from her when he didn’t have to, but she might need it.

“Robbie—” She cut herself off like she had too many questions to ask, didn’t know where to start. “When?” she said, finally.

He turned back around.

“The day Fitz and Coulson and I disappeared.”

He watched as understanding transformed her face. Her voice was quiet when she spoke.

“To get the Rider out of Mack.” She paused. “What was the deal?”

He clenched his jaw, trying to keep his face blank.

“He helped me settle my score against Eli; I help finish his.”

“Finish them.” Her eyes drilled into his. “As in all of them?” She had that same dry, disbelieving arch to her tone as that day at Canelo’s.

He stared back at her. Her mouth dropped open.

“Robbie!?” She scrambled off the bed.

“I needed him to get back. We needed him to get rid of Eli.”

“You offered to help a vengeance demon settle _all_ of his scores?” She was yelling again. He felt like an idiot, standing there having this conversation with her in his socks. He fought to keep his voice calm.

“It couldn’t stay with Mack. Mack couldn’t control it; you know that.”

“So you skipped straight to the nuclear option?!”

“There wasn’t time for another—”

“What do you mean there wasn’t time? There wasn’t time _not_ to sell your entire life—”

“It turned on you!” he roared. Daisy froze. Robbie took a deep breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them, the tears were back in her eyes, and he found himself hoping for sadness, that they weren’t there out of fear, that he hadn’t scared her.

“I wouldn’t have survived. I would have been dragged to hell with no way out.” His voice sounded small, defeated, pleading with her to understand. “And you would have been in his way.”

Another tear rolled down her cheek while she looked at him. She wiped it away brusquely, like it annoyed her.

“All of them,” she said, her voice flat, the words thick. “Does that mean forever?”

“I don’t know.”

“What happens to you in the meantime? Will you stop getting older? Will you…” She stopped, wiping away more tears roughly.

“I don’t know,” he said helplessly.

“What happens to you if we get you out of it? If the Rider’s not a part of you?”

Robbie hesitated. He knew from the flash in her eyes that she wasn’t going to like his answer.

“I don’t think there is any getting out of it, chica.” The nickname rolled off his tongue without thought. If he’d been hoping it would lessen the blow, it didn’t. Daisy didn’t even blink.

“There has to be something it wants more.”

“That’s not a deal you want to make.” He couldn’t keep the warning out of his voice.

“Why not?” she demanded.

“Because whatever _it_ is, it’ll cost too much. It’s not a price we’ll want to pay.”

“Bullshit!” They’d moved from grief to anger again, too quick for him to recognize it until it had already happened. “If we can find a way to save Coulson that doesn’t involve me quaking the world into a million pieces, we can find a way to get you out of it.”

He had a moment to wonder why the hell anyone would ever think Daisy would destroy the world, even though he didn’t doubt she was capable of it, before his brain caught up with his ears and he realized they were throwing the word _we_ around, which was the last thing he’d meant to happen.

He opened his mouth to tell her that, that he hadn’t told her so she’d get involved, that he’d just wanted her to know—she was right; she _should_ know—but she cut him off, rejecting whatever he was about to say.

“No!” She took a step toward him. “Do you want this? For the rest of your life, possibly for the rest of time. Do you want this?”

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to. No one would ever want this, and it was an insult to them both to pretend they didn’t already know that. She threw her hands out.

“Then I don’t accept it! We’ll figure something out. Maybe not today or next week or in the next three years, but I am _not_ giving up. I’m not resigning you to this.”

As if it was solely up to her whether he ever got out. As if she were the deciding factor.

Maybe she was.

Daisy was right in front of him now, looking up at him. Her fury had driven away most of her tears, but her eyes were still begging him.

And that was the real reason he’d told her, wasn’t it? Why she was the one to tell, why _her_.

He hadn’t wanted someone to pity him. He’d wanted someone to fight with him.

“Okay, chica.”

Her body loosened with relief, and then the look in her eyes sharpened, something playful and fond lurking there.

“Is that how you’re planning on getting out of all of our arguments?” Like she counted on him sticking around. Like there was a future for the two of them, even if it was only ever to argue.

It sounded better than the future he’d been counting on.

Robbie arched an eyebrow at her. “If it works.”

She pressed her lips together like she was trying not to smile.

“Don’t press your luck, Reyes.”

And then she turned around and walked back to the bed, stationed herself at the end of it, in the same spot as before. She paused with her hand on the light switch when she saw he hadn’t moved.

“There’s no way you’re not still tired.”

He took a step in her direction. “More tired, actually.”

“That’s what you get for arguing with me when I’m right.”

And he laughed because, “I should have learned that by now.”

“Yeah, you really should have.” But she was smiling again.

She waited until he was lying down and then she turned out the light, stretching out next to him. His mind was empty and quiet as he stared at the ceiling. It wasn’t hard to figure out why.

“Thank you, Daisy.” He turned to look at her. She was lying on her side, already looking at him.

“It’s good that you’re here,” she said quietly.

“Is it?” he whispered back. It was good for _him_ —God, it was good for him—to be back on Earth, only thousands of miles, instead of multiple dimensions, separating him from Gabe. To be lying here with Daisy, listening to her voice. But no matter how much he cared, he wasn’t entirely certain it was good for _her_ , not after what he’d just told her.

She reached out and grabbed his hand, her palm fitting so easily in his. He wrapped his fingers around hers and held tightly before he could overthink it.

“It always is.”

She seemed to be waiting for a response, so he nodded, and Daisy smiled softly at him before closing her eyes, squeezing his fingers as she did. She didn’t let go, and neither did he, his eyes falling shut, her hand an anchor, pulling him into sleep with her.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading!


End file.
